Best of 2010: Tax

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While Congress and the Obama Administration were making news negotiating the fate of the expiring Bush tax cuts, corporate taxpayers had to keep an eye on several other key tax issues in 2010. High on the list were the contentious disclosure rules governing uncertain tax positions that were issued by the Internal Revenue Service earlier in the year. Companies complained bitterly that the new disclosures would essentially create “road maps” for IRS auditors. Undeterred, and to the chagrin of many, the service issued the rules as Schedule UTP.

This was also the year in which tax experts debated whether BP should be entitled to a tax break in light of its disastrous oil spill, and in which revenue authorities around the world cranked up the number of audits they performed — in some cases agreeing on “simultaneous” audits with other countries.

The sagging global economy in 2010 created deferred tax assets for companies in the form of net operating losses — assets that can be used in the future to offset taxable income. As a result, two older court rulings relating to the treatment of NOLs became more pertinent than ever.

Finally, contrary to predictions by its opponents, the new health-care law didn’t affect companies’ financial statements. But a tax rule slipped into the law in its final stages created a potentially debilitating reporting rule for small businesses.